Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman (夏立言) Andrew Hsia’s trip to China just weeks after Beijing fired missiles over Taiwan has sparked a backlash, despite his criticism of the Chinese military exercises.
During a meeting near Shanghai with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), Hsia conveyed the Taiwanese public’s displeasure at China’s response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s landmark visit to Taipei earlier this month, the KMT said in a statement on Wednesday.
Hsia also called for a resumption of cross-strait talks and more flight links with Taiwan, it said.
Zhang said the two men were “good friends” despite a “tense and tumultuous” cross-strait situation, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The Chinese official described the drills as necessary to safeguard China’s sovereignty and counter what Beijing calls “Taiwanese independence forces.”
There are growing concerns across the Indo-Pacific region that Taiwan could become a flash point.
Hsia has been criticized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for traveling to China so soon after the most provocative military exercises Beijing has held in decades.
“As China held drills against Taiwan, the KMT shouldn’t go to China to suck up to the CCP,” DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said in a video statement sent to reporters yesterday, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
Wang accused the KMT of reneging on a promise that Hsia would not conduct any political meetings.
The trip occurred as the KMT is preparing to attempt a comeback in November’s local elections while the DPP is emphasizing Taiwan’s need to adopt a stronger stance against Beijing.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) military pressure on Taiwan has deepened skepticism among Taiwanese about developing closer links with Beijing.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) welcomed Pelosi and played down comments from within his party that her trip was a provocation.
Almost 90 percent of Taiwanese surveyed in a poll by the Mainland Affairs Council said they opposed Beijing’s military drills.
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